Nicola May skipper Shane Petit, left, and Dmitrij Pisarev and just some of the local fishermen who are experiencing difficulties due to the French port blockades and the cost of fuel when having to fish further afield because of depleted fish stocks. (Picture by Daniel Guerin, 0585231)
BLOCKADES in French ports could cripple Guernsey’s fishing industry, a local skipper has claimed. The action has put more pressure on Guernsey’s fleet at a time when fishermen are already suffering from high fuel costs.
The local fleet is unable to land its catch in France with the ‘strike’ there over fuel cost escalating. And Mick Guille, owner of Hayley B and a committee member of the Guernsey Fishermen’s Association, said he thought every local boat would be affected.
‘It could cripple the industry in the island in no time because Guernsey depends on France,’ he said. ‘It’s a worrying situation at the moment. The bulk of fish caught locally is exported through France, so we rely on it. A lot ends up in Spain and Portugal but it all goes through France.’
Mr Guille has tied up his boat in the harbour and will not fish again until the action in France is resolved.
‘We are all in the same situation with the fuel prices but with this on top it’s getting to the point where it’s unviable to go to sea,’ he said.
‘I don’t know where it’s going to end. It will be costing us money to go to sea every day to catch fish and put in storage when we don’t know when we are going to be able to sell it.
‘There will be a lot of fish locally that people will not be able to sell. It’s looking bleak.’
Mr Guille added that between 50 and 100 boats would be hit.
‘It’s going to affect every single boat, even the small ones, because they export to France as well,’ he said.
Another skipper, Shane Petit, from the trawler Nicola May, said the strike had certainly hit some of the bigger boats.
‘We do land our catches in France, but we’re landing locally at the moment to the market here,’ he said.
‘We can’t get into France because of the strikes, but you can’t really blame the French for it, because of the cost of fuel.’
Prices were almost unbearable, he said, at around 60p per litre of marine diesel locally.
Fishermen were starting to talk about leaving the industry because of it. Some of the larger vessels were spending around £1,000 a week on fuel alone.
‘With the fish being landed locally, that is then going to the mainland, to London, places like that.
Fish there is piling up because they can’t get it into Europe, so prices are falling at the moment.’
Mr Petit, 36, normally exports wetfish like ray and brill directly to Cherbourg.
‘We fish for conger, which is also landed in France, but because of the blockade we’re restricted, so we carry on with trawling to land locally, but for that we use much more fuel as well.’
French President Nicholas Sarkozy yesterday suggested that the EU considers capping tax on fuel to help countries deal with surging oil prices.
Fishermen in Portugal and Belgium are reportedly planning protests and Italy’s Federation of Fishing Co-operatives is due to meet on Wednesday to discuss possible strike action.
Protesters say the increasing fuel costs will put them out of business. In addition, trawlers are having to use more fuel in order to go further out to sea because of depleted fish stocks.
EU quotas mean fishermen are limited in how much they can catch and sell for profit.
Article posted on 28th May, 2008 - 2.30pm
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